Servant4Christ
Well-Known Member
Anyone know the lye purity of their sodium hydroxide? I'm wondering if I should try ED brand (shipping would be faster) instead of BB which is what I've always bought before.
Essential Depot Lye
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I usually buy theirs, as well. It is good quality and comes packaged well. It is usually cheaper for me to buy it through Amazon and not the ED website, bc of the free shipping with my Prime membership. I didn’t find the Greener Life Club worth the cost but you may differ based on what and how often you buy.
Servant4Christ
Well-Known Member
I think this is why I'm a bit confused. BB states 97 so that's exactly what I input in the soap calculator. ED just says it's minimum so I have no idea what to input.
Ordering on Amazon vs waiting for BB to ship from the opposite side of the country is a definite plus.
My recipes were formulated before the SMF calculator allowed adjustments. When the option became available, I left it at 99% and didn’t notice a change in the soap, so I just left it alone. I’ve been using ED lye only for the last year and a superfat of 2%. I have not noticed any variation between bottles of ED lye even though they mention the possibility. I‘ve had softer soap in the past when I used lye from the hardware store, which often has impurities I can see. For that lye I would adjust the purity down to 96%.
Servant4Christ
Well-Known Member
Thank you @Mobjack Bay. I'm going to order the ED from Amazon today and input 99% for the lye purity per your experience. I don't think I'd be so nervous except I've been making and absolutely loving ZNSB (and variations based on this recipe) recently which is 0% SF and I don't wanna get zapped! 
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on the ED website it says, "The manufacturer’s specification is 96% minimum Sodium Hydroxide strength. The typical Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) strength received from the manufacturer by Essential Depot is between 98% and 99.9%."
---https://www.essentialdepot.com/product/NAOH-1-FOOD_GRADE.html
I have a huge preference for the ED lye as compared to the BB lye flakes.
I think bb uses flakes bc the flakes have less ability to form an aerosol in the air when measuring/pouring, but it doesn't work as well as the non-flaked lye.
I suspect i got some bad lye from bb once that ruined a big batch and I've never used their lye again. Bb customer service told me they backtraced the questionable lye batch in their factory and it was fine so the bad batch was actually probably my fault for soaping too cold with palm. All I know is that it's never happened since. But I did take their advice to always soap with palm at 120 degrees tho so who knows.
Love BB. Just not a big fan of their lye.
---https://www.essentialdepot.com/product/NAOH-1-FOOD_GRADE.html
I have a huge preference for the ED lye as compared to the BB lye flakes.
I think bb uses flakes bc the flakes have less ability to form an aerosol in the air when measuring/pouring, but it doesn't work as well as the non-flaked lye.
I suspect i got some bad lye from bb once that ruined a big batch and I've never used their lye again. Bb customer service told me they backtraced the questionable lye batch in their factory and it was fine so the bad batch was actually probably my fault for soaping too cold with palm. All I know is that it's never happened since. But I did take their advice to always soap with palm at 120 degrees tho so who knows.
Love BB. Just not a big fan of their lye.
This is the lye I use exclusively mainly due to the containers/price. If you join their Greener Life Club, you get additional discounts which is nice as well. I am able to save on numerous items using this additional discount and so I found it worthwhile to have.
Servant4Christ
Well-Known Member
Are you inputting 99% (like @Mobjack Bay) for the lye purity in the calculator? That was my main concern with ordering: knowing what to input for the lye purity when calculating recipes. I've already ordered along with some of their potassium hydroxide to attempt LS.
I started with BB's, but stupidly ran low and it was going to take two weeks and so I ordered ED via Amazon and used them for about a year and a half when I found a local soap supplier and now buy in bulk. It would say their Sodium Hydroxide and their stackable molds is what they are most known for.
99% is the safest place to start and then if the soap seems a little softer than usual you can lower the percent purity, check for zappiness at the new setting, let it cure, see how it behaves, etc.
